Matt Hancock Self-Isolating After Being Seen Playing Rugby In Park

UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock is now self-isolating, days after he was spotted playing sports in the park with his son.

Hancock announced he would be ‘staying at home and not leaving at all until Sunday’, after the track and trace app notified him that he may have been in contact with someone who tested positive for the virus.

‘This self-isolation is perhaps the most important part of all the social distancing because I know from the app I’ve been in close contact with somebody who has tested positive, and this is how we break the chains of transmission,’ he explained, in a video posted to Twitter.

‘So you must follow these rules like I’m going to. I’ve got to work from home for the next six days. And together, by doing this, by following this and all the other panoply of rules that we’ve had to put in place, we can get through this and beat this virus.’

It comes after Hancock was spotted playing rugby in Queen’s Park in North London over the weekend, despite Boris Johnson warning Brits to behave as though they have the virus.

‘It’s safest to assume you have Covid, so please, really think twice before leaving the house this weekend,’ Johnson warned last week.

However, the health secretary wasn’t breaking any rules by being in the park, given that Brits are allowed to leave their homes for the purposes of exercise, unless told to isolate.

Meanwhile, former chancellor George Osbourne, who previously employed Hancock, tweeted his confusion as to why the health secretary had not yet received the COVID-19 vaccine.

‘It’s a peculiarly British trait that we rightly make vaccinating millions of health workers a priority, but we can’t spare a single dose for the health secretary leading the response to the pandemic,’ he tweeted.

However, at this stage it’s still unknown whether the vaccine will stop people from catching the virus and being able to pass it on to others who have not received the vaccine, which is why it’s still so important for everyone to adhere to social distancing rules.

From this week, anyone aged 70 or above, or classed as extremely clinically vulnerable, will be offered the chance to receive the vaccination. Around 4.2 million people in the UK have already received their first jab, including 50% of people over the age of 80.

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